Biografija - Kritike

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The Strad, oktober 2004 Mostly Mozart festival / ASMF / Nicholas McGegan / Barbican Centre

"On 15 July Natalie Clein performed Boccherini's G major Cello Concerto, with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Nicholas McGegan. Concerto it may be called, but this is chamber music, a work for cello and strings with the soloist for much of it playing with the violin sections alone. Clein paid as much attention to the leader as she did to the conductor, and joined in most of the tutti playing. She certainly presented herself as soloist, but not so much as a principal in a concerto as a cellist alone who is unaccountably joined by an orchestra: the cadenza to the first movement sounded more like a Bach suite than a piece of Classical exhibitionism. She played the extended melody of the slow movement with exquisite lyricism, coloured by some beautiful pianissimo moments. In the last movement she showed impressive agility in high positions, and she played throughout with a warm and clear tone. Even in the most virtuoso moments, however, she remained modest, remaining very much part of the ensemble. One wonders if Boccherini himself, a great cellist, would have been so self-effacing."

Tim Homfray

The Times, 15. julij 2004 / Elgar, koncert za violončelo in orkester, CBSO / Martyn Brabbins, Cheltenham Festival

"The mesmerising cellist Natalie Clein....the Elgar Cello Concerto was performed superbly, with a bewitching mix of cool dignity, surging lyricism and soul surrendering abandon. This was the highlight of the evening."

Matthew Connolly

22. junij 2004 / Dvorak, koncert za violončelo / Philharmonia Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras, De Montfort Hall, 20 June2004

"Natalie Clein gave a remarkable performance of Dvorak's Cello Concerto - assured and heartfelt…..[with] the sense of poetry and expressive phrasing."

Leicester Mercury

East Anglian Daily Times, 7. junij 2004 / Dvorak, koncert za violončelo / City of London Sinfonia / Douglas Boyd, Ipswich Corn Exchange, 19. maj 2004

"The lovely tone and control, demonstrated by the soloist, Natalie Clein, brought out the yearning and the Bohemian origins that are clearly reflected in the music. Natalie Clein is very talented."

Judith Newman

Eastern Daily Press, 22. maj 2004 / Dvorak, koncert za violončelo in orkester / City of London Sinfonia / Douglas Boyd, King's Lynn Corn Exchange, 20. maj 2004

"She demonstrated her huge talent with an emotionally charged performance of Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor. It was difficult not to be transfixed by the intemsity."

Alison Croose

Birmingham Eccho, 12. julij 2003

"These three musicians [Natalie Clein/Imogen Cooper/Pryia Mitchell] conspired to give us chamber music at the highest level…..the rapport between the players was magically close. Lennox Berkeley's short Andantino for Cello and Piano was so beautifully expressive that one wished it was longer. Altogether a fascinating evening."

Ronald Kay

Ross Gazette, 17. julij 2003 Trio recital, Cheltenham Festival, Natalie Clein/Imogen Cooper/Pryia Mitchell

"Natalie Clein's exciting cello returned in a trio with Imogen Cooper and violinist, Pryia Mitchell. With an exceptional coherence among such exciting musicians there were sparks illuminating their unity. A Berkeley Andantino for cello and piano gave a spell of melodious calm."

Christopher Robbins

Eastern Daily Express, 9. maj 2003 / recital John Innes Centre, Natalie Clein-čelo, Charles Owen-klavir

"What a beautiful sound the cello makes and in the hands of one Natalie Clein, it was singing in pleasure…[Schubert's arpeggione] was played with great artistry, while Britten's unaccompanied Suite No.3, was rather like a masterclass in cello playing. The long silence after the final, drawn note, was literally extraordinary."

Michael Drake

La Nación (Buenos Aires), april 2003
Dvorak, koncert za violončelo in orkester / Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires/Rettig, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, 10.4.2003

"A brilliant soloist… The Buenos Aires audience were delighted to discover the English cellist Natalie Clein, who impressed with the personal character of her interpretation and the unusual range of tone colours she obtains from her instrument while displaying the sort of robust, expressive and powerful playing you would often expect from a Russian or a Latin artist."

Juan Carlos Montero

Osnabrücker Zeitung, 20. marec 2003 Bach, solo suita št. 1, Osnabruck Festival, Marec 2003

"Natalie Clein hatte den Abend mit Johann Sebastian Bachs Cello-Suite Nr. 1 in G-Dur eröffnet und die Richtung vorgegeben. Mienenspiel und Gestik deuteten an, wie tief sie sich Bachs Kosmos versenkte; sie nahm sich rhythmische Freiheiten, um zentrale Töne hervorzuheben, einzelne Phrasen zu akzentuieren, Mehrstimmigkeit anzudeuten. Sonor und in jedem Moment absolut klar entwickelte sie, einem inneren Monolog gleich, die einzelnen Sätze - eine intime Auseinandersetzung mit Bachs Musik vor den Ohren des Publikums."

Ralf Döring

The Independent, 11. december 2002
Manchester Bridgewater Hall: Lutoslawski, Koncert za violončelo in orkester, Hallé Orchestra / Heinrich Schiff, 5.12.2002

"[Natalie Clein] is a soloist who doesn't get in the way of the music. With an admirable directness and grave dignity, she approached the opening repeated Ds, whose hypnotic ticking gradually opens out to let in some spasmodic twitchings, some fleeting scurrying and some intermittent buzzing. Unfazed by the anarchic brass that bursts in upon this intimate exercise, Clein demonstrated the lyricism on which she's building a solid reputation, her instrument (…) blossoming into a rich burnished voice. Threads became soaring melodies, fragments made textural sense. (…) this powerful music conjures up for each individual listener, it could not fail to make an impact. Not, at least, with such impassioned playing from Clein and the musicians of the Hallé Orchestra (…). The audience was mesmerised."

Linne Walker

The Evening Standard, 15. november 2002
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Takács Quartet, 14th November 2002

The Takács were joined by the young British cellist Natalie Clein, whose bass-line was the force controlling and propelling momentum. Her rhythmic subtlety and shading of intonation proclaimed the emergence of a truly compelling artist, without unduly dominating what was a mighty performance, chamber music at its most eloquent."

Brian Hunt


The Independent, 13. oktober 2002

"In Natalie Clein, the 25 year old antidote to the 35 year old fetishisation of Jaqueline Du Pré as the sole model for female British cellists, Daniel had the perfect partner to strip the impasto of mawkish sentimentality from Elgar. Clein's grave, thoughtful approach - more a question than a bravura statement - could scarcely be more different to Du Pré's iconic interpretation; introducing the first subject as a muted, private improvisation, maintaining and increasing tension though the Allegro Molto and weaving an attenuated Adagio of impeccable restraint… with achingly sweet gradations of diminuendi."

Anna Picard

The Times, 24. junij 2002 Wigmore Hall (recital z Itamar Golanom)

"[Clein and Golan] had all the freedom and flexibility for the opening movement of this great sonata [Brahms Cello Sonata No.1]…the dancing allegro had lilt, and the finale all the rigorous virtuosity required. Two unaccompanied works from the 1940s completed the programme, and allowed Clein to show her mettle. In Henze's Serenade she produced a big sound that helped the piece live up to its name, with the nine short movements by turn lyrical and lively: the tiny tango was appropriately aloof. Dallapiccola's Ciaccona, Intermezzo e Adagio is sombre, and could hardly be anything else since it was written in 1945, with a mood of desolation which Clein caught from the start. Never shy of attacking the notes, she also had control in steering the music to the quiet eloquence of its close."

John Allison

The Basingstoke Gazette, 28. junij 2002 (Dvorak, Koncert za čelo in orkesetr z Basingstoke Symphony Orchestra/Scotchmer)

"The performance was an inspired effort - and much of this effort has to have come from the cello of Natalie Clein. This outstanding young artist set the tone for the concert with a moving account of the Dvorak Cello Concerto…Clein is able to extract an enormous range of tonal shading and colour from her instrument, coupled with an engaging stage presence that delivered this great work in all its romantic glory."

B. Ackermann,

The Kent and Sussex Courier, 12. april 2002 (Schumann, Koncert za čelo in orkester, Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra)

"Natalie Clein brought to the concerto not only an impeccable technique but also an impressive maturity and a sublime poetic insight."

Robert Hardcastle

Mid Sussex Times, 14. februar 2002 (Haydn, Koncert za čelo in orkester v C-duru, Brighton Philharmonic/Barry Wordsworth)

"Playing with all the verve and expression for which she has become well known, she skipped through the endearing Haydn C Major concerto to the obvious delight of the audience."

Harvey Elliott

The Daily Telegraph, 31. januar 2002 (Holocaust Memorial Day Concert, Purcell Room)

"Natalie Clein and her string playing colleagues framed the evening with passionately engaged performances of some of [Schulhoff's] endlessly fascinating chamber music."

Matthew Rye

The Independent on Sunday, 3. februar 2002 (Holocaust Memorial Day Concert, Purcell Room)

"I've rarely heard four players so well matched in tone…Clein assembled a programme of works that made you ache for what could have been composed in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies had Hans Krasa, Gideon Klein, and Ervin Schulhoff not been murdered in the death camps."

Anna Picard

Glasgow Herald, 25. junij 2001 (Dvorak, Koncert za čelo in orkester z BBC SSO/Martyn Brabbins, St Magnus Festival)

"…what didn't require any further hearing to testify to its magnificence was the cello playing of Natalie Clein, who mesmerised the capacity audience in the Pickaquoy Centre…her soulful musicality, tapping right into the heart of the piece, was deeply impressive."

Michael Tumelty

The Contra Costa Times (California), 1. maj 2001 (Elgar, Koncert za čelo in orkester, California Symphony Orchestra/Jekowsky)

"…with Clein as soloist this most beloved of the composer's work [Elgar concerto] received a ravishing performance. Clein, who is still in her early 20s, employs rich, singing tone and an expressive style that honors the musical line above all else… The themes of the opening movements were expressed in a flurry of dazzling technique, and the brief, elegiac Adagio was imbued with a quiet eloquence."

Georgia Rowe

Eastern Daily Press, 16. oktober 2000 (Haydn, Koncert za čelo in orkesetr v D-duru, Norwich Festival, London Mozart Players/Parrott)

"…a highly individual performance… flamboyant virtuosity… the central adagio was beautifully phrased and almost tearfully melodic, followed by a finale of both subtlety and energy."

Miker Drake